Wildfire News Of The Day (the Firebomber Publications blog) provides comprehensive international wildfire news. Subscribers include over 10,000 personnel from fire agencies, contractors, and government entities on five continents. "BEST NEWSLETTER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY 32 YEARS IN THE FIRE SERVICE" - San Diego Fire Department Chief Brian Fennessy.

Friday, October 12, 2012

WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 101212

We lead off today with a press release from Wildfire NOTD subscriber Ty Bonnar, Vice President of Global Operations for Southern California-based Flexible Alternatives, that their Precision Container Aerial Delivery System (PCADS) has been officially approved by the US Air Force for flights on Air Mobility Command C-130s, greatly expanding the number of aircraft that could now be used to fight wildfires in the US. Elsewhere in the news, Wildfire NOTD subscriber Jerome Laval, an air-tanker pilot with CAL FIRE, sent along the October issue of the California Fire Pilots Association newsletter (1). In Oregon, Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District reported a wildfire that was apparently sparked by an abandoned campfire (2); but with the end of the fire season, fire crews are setting a few fires of their own! (3) In New Mexico, Deming Fire Department and the Gila National Forest will take advantage of National Fire Prevention Week to educate people on reducing wildfires (4). Fire authorities in Colorado are hopeful that precipitation will help quench two wildfires today (5); an editorial taking a look at how wildfires in that state have increased from 460 a year burning about 8,000 acres annually in the 1960s to an average of 2,500 fires a year burning nearly 100,000 acres (6); two US Senators from that state asking US Forest Service to conduct in-depth studies on this year's blazes to better prepare for wildfires of the future (7). Idaho's Thompson Creek Fire has expanded to 650 acres, but is no longer threatening the Magic Mountain Ski Resort (8). The next article takes a closer look at one couple's recovery efforts following the devastating wildfires in Creek County, Oklahoma, which destroyed nearly 300 homes (9); while the introduction of the Heart of Texas Task Force offered the Texas Forest Service an opportunity to explain their three-tier approach to fighting wildfires in that state (10). US Forest Service has lifted fire restrictions on South Dakota's Little Missouri, Grand River and Cedar River National Grasslands (11); and Nebraska Forest Service will be holding a wildland fire training event October 28th in Cherry County (12). Windy conditions forecast for north central Minnesota may complicate efforts to contain a 25,000-acre wildfire in Beltrami County (13); but in Illinois, Shawnee National Forest is beginning the first of nearly 3 dozen controlled burns which will treat upwards of 10,000 acres (14). The Tennessee Division of Forestry took advantage of National Fire Prevention Week to remind homeowners of the need for burn permits to reduce the danger of wildfires (15); while a Member of Congress responds to a Washington Post article from last week by discussing the problems associated with US Forest Service being a firefighter rather than a forest manager (16). The arrival of fall precipitation has reduced the wildfire danger in Ontario, Canada, to "low" (17). Firefighters in the UK came together in County Durham to learn the finer points of battling wildfires (18); and a 219-hectare wildfire was reported in Kosovo (19). The next article takes a look at Victoria, Australia's, efforts to implement a $40 million program to improve communications for Country Fire Service firefighters (20). Gemfields Rural Fire Brigade was joined by several other Queensland fire crews battling a bushfire that threatened approximately 100 residences (21); but although some walking trails along the Mt Joyce Recreation Park had been reopened after bushfires burned through the area, some remain closed (22). A burnover during a West Australian plantation fire resulted in two critical injuries (23); and severe damage to several pieces of firefighting equipment as well (24). And finally, firefighters in Rancho Adobe, California, had an unusual extrication to perform: getting a horse out of a septic tank!